Viewing causes of problems in the context of individual areas of a company (finance, employees, strategy, etc.) or from the perspective of specific departments (e.g., department X, Y, Z) can lead to losing the essence of a successful corrective process, which is a holistic view of the organization.
The effectiveness of individual departments or employees is not as crucial as the effectiveness of the flow and connections between departments and employees. A similar assumption can be applied to crisis causes—it's not just the cause or irregularity appearing in one area or department that matters, but the nature of the connections and the impact of these causes on other areas.
The starting point for effectively investigating causes should be the flow of irregularities and causes and how they interconnect. A narrow, point-based view of crisis causes is therefore ineffective, and the essence of a successful process of identifying causes and the corrective process itself lies in a holistic approach to the entire organization.
Causative and Effect Analysis Model for Organizational Crises and Crisis Resilience
Model Assumptions:
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Interdisciplinary Nature of Crisis Factors:
- Crisis causes can occur across all organizational areas and interact with each other. For example, strategic problems can lead to issues in employee management.
- Thus, rather than analyzing factors solely within specific departments, one should examine them within general categories, considering the nature of the connections between factors.
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Classification of Crisis Causes:
- Crisis causes are divided into three main categories:
- Source Causes: Primary causes that do not have a preceding cause. Identifying these is crucial for the recovery process. Verification question: Can we delve deeper to find another cause?
- Trigger Causes: Intermediate causes that result from other causes (mainly source causes). These can include issues related to management, liquidity, or processes.
- Final Causes: Often confused with effects or symptoms, but not the same. They lead directly to symptoms, such as insolvency or liquidity loss.
- Crisis causes are divided into three main categories:
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Nature of Connections Between Causes:
- Instead of focusing on specific operational areas, analyze how causes connect with each other and the characteristics of these connections. The critical question is: which causes trigger others?
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Categorization of Causes Based on Connection Nature: Crisis causes can be categorized into four main types:
- Behavioral/Managerial: Related to management errors, competency gaps, organizational culture, and leadership styles.
- Performance/Outcome: Related to financial, operational results, and organizational efficiency.
- Unused Potential: Resulting from ineffective use of resources, such as underdeveloped employees or unutilized innovative technologies.
- Market: Related to external factors, such as market changes, regulatory adjustments, customer preferences, or competitive pressure.
Classification Table of Causes:
| Cause Characteristic | Source Cause | Trigger Cause | Final Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioral/Managerial | x | x | |
| Performance/Outcome | x | x | |
| Unused Potential | x | ||
| Market | x |
Steps in the Organizational Recovery Process:
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Organizational Analysis and Cause Identification:
- Based on approximately 500 potential crisis factors, grouped into four categories, an organizational analysis is conducted.
- Tool: Organizational Audit – Excel spreadsheet where managers assess the extent of specific crisis phenomena (factors) based on given statements. The analysis is performed on a percentage scale.
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Assessment of Audit Results:
- Audit results are described in percentage terms, where 100% indicates widely prevalent crisis factors, and 0% indicates the absence of such factors.
- Values below 60% may indicate potential areas needing intervention. Values above 60% suggest the organization is in a crisis situation requiring immediate action.
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Determination of Priorities in the Recovery Process:
- Categories related to market causes and unused potential are prioritized, based on the assumption that "the fish rots from the head" – crises often start from strategic decisions and lack of response to external threats.
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Adjustment of Recovery Tools to Cause Categories:
- Behavioral/Managerial: For high levels of these factors (above 60%), tools such as:
- Competency matrices,
- Talent management programs,
- Strengthening organizational culture and leadership.
- Behavioral/Managerial: For high levels of these factors (above 60%), tools such as:
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- Performance/Outcome: For insufficient performance, tools such as:
- KPI analysis,
- Optimization of operational processes,
- Efficiency improvement programs.
- Performance/Outcome: For insufficient performance, tools such as:
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- Unused Potential: For ineffective use of organizational potential, tools such as:
- Innovation management programs,
- Process excellence,
- Investments in human resource development.
- Unused Potential: For ineffective use of organizational potential, tools such as:
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- Market: If the organization is lagging behind market changes, tools such as:
- SWOT analysis,
- Strategic balance sheets,
- Programs for adapting strategies to market changes.
- Market: If the organization is lagging behind market changes, tools such as:
Causative and Effect Analysis Model for Organizational Crises and Crisis Resilience
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